Anti-Chlamydia pneumoniae heat shock protein 10 antibodies in asthmatic adults

A multicenter prospective study was performed on 160 asthmatic adults suffering from acute episodes of bronchitis and 88 nonasthmatic controls, to investigate potential associations among Chlamydia pneumoniae infection and/or anti-C pneumoniae heat shock protein 10 antibodies, and asthma. We used micro-immunofluorescence to detect serum anti-C pneumoniae IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect serum anti-Chsp10 peptide IgG antibodies. The serological prevalence of C pneumoniae was 73.1%. An association was observed between the presence of anti-Chsp10 antibodies and adult onset asthma. The humoral immune responses were not confined to any particular region of the Chsp10 protein. (C) 2003 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.